King's College London

About Us

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. We are dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place. We are delighted to announce exciting new opportunities to join our community.

EMBRACE is a visionary, multicomponent International research programme, the first of its kind in the world, supported by Inkfish with £35M core funds over six years, starting in April 2025. It is a global study of 60,000 participants, including 20,000 mothers, 20,000 infants and up to 20,000 partners.  It brings together world-leading clinician scientists across six distinguished Healthcare organisations, world-leading AI & technology companies, together with premier biotech companies, with the overarching aim to fast track major scientific breakthroughs, revolutionise maternal and early childhood health through precision-personalised interventions, powered by a groundbreaking symbiosis of cutting-edge AI combined with human support.

About The Role

The post holder is responsible for establishing and managing the EMBRACE programme working closely with the study Director and lead PI, Professor Josip Car (King’s College London), Senior Advisors, other members of the research leadership team and Industry partner organisations.

The EMBRACE Chief Operating Officer will manage all parties within the global consortium and key stakeholders to set up and maintain an operational framework that meets the regulatory requirements of each partner country and organisation to meet EMBRACE’s ambitious goals. They will oversee day-to-day execution of decisions and contracts, including the oversight of the research teams and business operations. This includes the consortium’s financial management, project management – meeting key milestones, writing and presenting reports, establishing and overseeing the programme’s governance, ethical and regulatory compliance, and maintaining internal and external relationships including with industry partners, funders and collaborators.

The EMBRACE Chief Operating Officer will provide strategic leadership, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and ensure delivery of high-impact research outcomes.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an  fixed term contract until 31/03/2031.

The successful candidate will be required to work on campus for a minimum of four days per week.

 

Please note this role will be based in Addison House, Guys Campus and Denmark Hill.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience: 

Essential criteria

1. PhD in a STEM discipline
2. Advanced financial management and analytical skills to underpin strategic decisions and procedures
3. Significant experience of managing a multi-site international scientific programme including governance, regulatory and clinical operations
4. Extensive experience working in a leadership role in either a higher education or research institution, a large research funder or a biomedical or other active research company in the private sector, with responsibility for delivering operational partnership between commercial, clinical and university organisations using negotiation and influencing skills
5. Detailed understanding and experience of setting up and project managing/ leading a complex multi-partner programme similar to the EMBRACE programme 
6. Proven excellent written and spoken communication skills, translating scientific concepts and findings into understandable presentations and written reports
7. High level of work organisation, self-motivation, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude to deliver agreed outputs on time and within budget
8. Significant experience in managing clinical research and clinical trials in partnership with commercial organisations

Desirable criteria

1. Proven experience in managing complex teams both with line management responsibilities and in a matrix environment 
2. Advanced relevant professional qualification in project management, accountancy, MBA, or equivalent
3. Formal clinical research or clinical trial qualification

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

 

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held on July (TBC)